Mystic India Set to Stimulate Tourism Interest

Exclusive Review by Thomas E. King -TravelMole’s Travel & Lifestyle Correspondent 

“Mystic India is a journey into the heart and soul of India,” said Shanker Dhar, Regional Director Australasia, India Tourism Sydney at the mid February Australian premiere of the inventive large format film that presents the living culture and heritage of India in epic proportions never seen before.

Even though the film is set more than 200 years ago it seems that time has stood still. It shows the magnificence that was and continues to be India, he added.

No doubt this superb film will be a strong incentive for yet more Australians to discover India during 2006, Dhar said. 

While India tourism arrivals for 2005 have yet to be released, Dhar anticipates that a record-setting 100,000 Australians will have visited India in 2005.  Based on current projections he predicts that more than 120,000 Australians will visit India in 2006, many of them motivated by the grandeur and spectacle portrayed in Mystic India. 

Many superlatives swirl around Mystic India which is screening at the LG IMAX Theatre, Darling Harbour, Sydney until mid year.  All are justified!

For starters, Mystic India is the first large format film about 18^th century India.  As well, more than 45,000 people – the biggest cast ever assembled for a large format film – were involved in the 3-year production which was filmed in over 100 locations.

One scene alone involved some 20,000 children singing the national anthem while holding the Indian tricolour in their hands.

BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, an international NGO, decided to produce a film that would present India through an exceptional and inspirational person, Neelkanth, a child yogi who was born more than 200 years ago.

Neelkanth renounced all worldly possessions at the age of 11 and walked some 13,000 km across India in seven years.  Mystic India captures the essence of this remarkable journey.

Exhaustive research was undertaken to ensure that the costumes and settings authentically reflected the people and places of 18^th century India.As well, more than 11,000 children were auditioned for the two principal roles: the 11 year old Neelkanth and Neelkanth, aged 18.  Filming the ‘transition’ from boy to man while in a yogic pose is one of the most innovative shots in this inspirational docu-drama.  

Narrated by Sir Peter O’Toole and with a memorable sound track that fuses Indian instruments with a western symphony, Mystic India has a significant core message: “We all share the same sky, walk the same earth, breathe the same air.  We are a single human family.”